Maternity Leave...No more

THE saddest day of my life was yesterday when I had to leave my 8 week old baby at the baby sitter's house. I have been frantically searching for work-from-home jobs since he was born, but nothing seemed legit...or even plausible. I am still trying to convince Hubs to sell the house and move into a smaller one so that I can stay home. He hasn't folded yet though.

I mean...who wouldn't miss this guy?

Everyone, meet Desmond. My little bundle of absolute joy. I know I kind of left you hanging, but being a mom to a newborn is exhausting and when I had time to myself...I was sleeping. But, I wouldn't trade it for the world. He has changed my life completely.

He was born on July 8th at 8:12 in the morning. He was 6 pounds, 13 ounces and had to be delivered via C-section because the little booger wouldn't turn upside down. The first two weeks were rough, what with recovery from major abdominal surgery and all the late night feedings, but after that we seemed to get the swing of things. I was with him 24/7 up until yesterday and now I feel like I'm missing a limb.

We had a hard road through pregnancy and delivery but I would do it all over again.

Making room

With much much much help from my dad, we have managed to update just about every room in our new home. I still want to tear apart the kitchen, but we'll need to save money for that. I need to paint the family room and then make our master bedroom a little more cozy (white walls right now). After that, I think I'll feel like it's finished. At least for a while. But my absolutely favorite room of the house now is the nursery.



Before- A simple guest room

Goodbye purple walls

My $20 Lowe's find! Removed an ugly brown ceiling fan and put this baby in!

Couldn't really justify the costs of some of the crib mobiles out there, so instead I hung some paper lanterns for him to stare at!

I just love how it turned out. Sometimes I'll just go sit in the rocking chair and try to imagine what it will be like when he's finally here!

Complications

I am convinced that this baby is showing me exactly what I'm made of. He's making sure I'm strong and that I'm ready for whatever he is going to throw at us.

At 22 weeks pregnant (15 weeks ago!) I was sitting at work when I started getting a lot of back pain. Typical with pregnancy, right? Yes. So I got up, drank a bottle of water, and did a couple of laps around my building. When it didn't seem to ease up at all, I took a Tylenol. Still, the back pain was only getting worse.

I went home and climbed into a semi-hot bath. I felt a ton of relief, so I just laid in there until the water became too cold to tolerate. As soon as I got out, all the pain came wooshing back like it was re-paying me for any time that I'd missed without it.

I called my mom who suggested a heating pad. I sat down on the couch with a heating pad and after about fifteen minutes of that, I realized that I was having really bad cramps too. I felt like I was PMSing. Really bad.

I called Hubby, who came home from work and drove me to the hospital. The hospital staff thought maybe I had a UTI in which I replied, "Oh man, I feel stupid for coming to the E.R. for a UTI."  If only that's all it had been.

After testing my urine and realizing it was clean, the nurse performed a cervical check. "Um, okay, yeah you are dilated."

WHAT?!?!

She immediately went to work hooking monitors up and laying me flat on my back. Everything seemed to be happening in huge rush now. One nurse turned into two, then three, then five. My midwife was called in and then a doctor. I was having contractions. I was dilated. I was in labor.

It was determined after TWELVE attempts to get an I.V. in me that I was dehydrated which would possibly be why I was only 22 weeks pregnant and going into labor.

I was given two shots in each of my arms that felt like a thousand bee stings and made my heart rate soar. I seriously felt like I'd just finished an entire pot of coffee by myself. I was shaking almost uncontrollably.

Hubby kept getting kinda pushed out of the way so everyone could work. I could see him at the foot of the bed, pacing. I immediately recognized the look on his face to be the look of helplessness. I must have shared the same one.

The on-call doctor finally came to talk to me and informed me that they were transferring me to another hospital that had a NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) capable of taking care of premature babies, but in the same breath said, "But a baby at 22 weeks just isn't viable."

My midwife nearly slapped him and if I could have, I would have, too. There's nothing like someone telling you that your baby is going to die. It just better left unsaid until you know for sure.

Moments later, I was taken by ambulance to the other hospital. I was once again hooked up to all the monitors and was still contracting. Another doctor checked my cervix, and then another. I was given some pills, I still don't have a clue what they were, and then about an hour later, everything stopped.

My nurse, who was the absolutely best nurse I've ever had, came in and said, "You are no longer in active later." The sweetest words I've heard. She unhooked my monitors and let me sit up straight.  I was moved into a non-delivery room and was scheduled for an ultrasound with the top high-risk doctor in the county.

The ultrasound determined that the baby was fine and that I was no longer dilating. I was kept there for three days on modified bedrest. After the third day, I was checked again and since I hadn't dilated anymore, I was allowed to go home with promises that I'd continue bed rest and absolutely under no circumstances have intercourse.

Four ultrasounds, about a dozen cervix checks and three weeks of bedrest later, I had another appointment. I was set to talk to the doctor and have a cervical ultrasound that day. I expected to hear the same thing, "You still aren't dilating, but you need to stay in bed."

Let me tell you...bed rest SUCKS. I was allowed to get up to go to the bathroom and allowed one ten minute shower every other day. I was ready to be done with it, but I was also ready to do whatever it took to make sure my little man was okay.

So they performed the cervical ultrasound. And then again. And then again.

"Ok, so I don't really know how to explain it and I don't know what happened, but your cervix seems to have....grown back." The doctor told me.

That's not at all what I thought was happening.  They explained more in detail that I was absolutely not dilated, not effaced, and actually had a longer cervix than most normal women. The high-risk doctor even said, "I've never seen that happen."

They kept telling us that we'd be lucky to make it to 25 weeks. After 25 weeks passed, they said we'd be lucky to see 28 weeks. And they are still astounded that now at 37 weeks, little baby boy is still baking.

My little fellow still has plans of his own though and after trying to come too early, he has decided that he would flip around head up and not make any attempt to get into the birthing position again. I feel like he's saying, "Hey, I tried to do this once and you stopped me, so now I'm not coming at all."

So, we went on Wednesday to schedule our c-section and were treated with some more news. I was diagnosed with pregnancy induced hypertension and now am on bed rest for the duration of this pregnancy. If not any sooner, we'll be meeting our little one on July 8th.

Our little bun- Part 2

This was it! The appointment I had been waiting for! I had our guest room all cleaned out and was just waiting to see if I was painting it pink or blue. Everyone knew we were expecting at this point and they were all anxiously waiting to hear from us.

I climbed up on that table with a huge smile on my face while the technician slathered that gel all over my growing tummy.

We hadn't seen the baby since our 9 week appointment so we were shocked at how big it'd grown! I watched as the technician pointed out the nose, the ears, the mouth, etc. It was all cute and I was thrilled to see it, but in my head I was screaming "IS IT A BOY OR GIRL!?"

Finally, we were going down the body more. Passed the little arms. Passed the little tummy. And then, the moment of truth.....

BOTH HANDS COVERING THE CROTCH!

"Ugh, seems like the baby is shy." The technician said.

"Stubborn more like it. Just like his momma." Hubby chimed in.

I sighed. "It's clearly a boy. Girls don't play with their junk."

They both laughed at me and then the technician continued to take measurements. We saw baby in there wiggling around and trying to get away from us. We laughed and teared up a little bit when we saw a thumb go in his mouth.

"OH! THUMB! OH!" The technician yelled after realizing at least one hand wasn't near the junk anymore.  And in one swift movement,  she put the wand back between the crotch. And then the hand came back down to cover it up.  

Hubby and I sighed in disappointment. "I guess we aren't supposed to know."

"Just hang on..." The technician rewinded the tape and quickly hit pause. It was only a split second that she was able to get without the hands in the way, but that split second was enough.

We are having a boy! I knew it. We only hope that our child will be healthy, but I can't say we weren't both silently praying that it was a boy!  Hubby was beyond excited and called and told all of his friends before we even got out of the room! It was amazing to see him so proud. I can't even imagine how he'll be once we finally get to meet the little fellow.

Even though, we thought at this point, we were in the clear, that the rest of the pregnancy would just be a blur of cravings and swollen feet, we were mistaken. And quite so. As it turned out, our little boy had yet another curve ball for us.

Stay tuned!

Our little bun-PART 1

On election day of last year, November 6th, I believe, I woke up knowing that I was six days late. Hubby and I had decided about four months prior that we'd just stop trying to prevent pregnancy. We didn't do anything else. No calendar, no ovulating tests, nothing. We just let nature take its course.

I told Hubby I'd wait at least five days after my missed period so that I wouldn't get my hopes up. On day six, I woke up, ran to the bathroom, peed on the stick and.....

NOTHING HAPPENED!

The stupid test was faulty!!! I was so angry, I dressed for work without even taking a shower so that I could stop by the drug store and buy another one. I bought a two pack and went to work. I went straight to the bathroom, peed on the stick again and before I could even blink, the lines turned.

It was positive!!  I called Hubby and had to first convince him I that I was not lying, then we cried, giggled and oh-my-gosh'd before hanging up. It'd be a long 8 hours before I'd see him again to celebrate in person.

Now fast forward a little bit, to our first doctor's appointment. I wasn't supposed to go until I was 8 weeks along, but I kept having this really bad pain in my side. The doctor I talked to feared that I may have a tubal pregnancy and wanted to see me right away. We did an ultrasound to reveal that no, it wasn't tubal, but instead a cyst. Relief! I was scheduled for another ultrasound in two weeks.

We weren't telling anybody just yet. We wanted to make sure everything was okay before spreading our news. At the next ultrasound, we were so excited to see our little baby. We held hands as the technician poured ooey gel on my stomach and ran a little wand around. There was a large black hole that he called the sac, but he cold not find a fetal pole. I didn't know what that meant exactly, so he ushered us into the doctor's office. I knew something was wrong. We weren't even scheduled to see a doctor that day.

"I hate to carry this news to you, but I do believe we should be able to see a fetal pole by now." The doctor said as soon as he walked in. He explained to us that it looked to him like nothing was going to grow in there except an empty sac. We were devastated. He scheduled us in for the next three days to get blood work. He wanted to see if my hCG levels were raising or falling. After the third day of blood work and many tears, the doctor called. "The blood levels are raising, which is a good thing. Can you come in tomorrow for another ultrasound?"

To be honest, I was baffled. I hadn't expected that. I, of course, expected the worst. I was convinced we were going to miscarry. The next hours were the slowest of my life. Hubby tried and tried but couldn't get off work the next day, so I asked my BFF to go. She held my hand as I lay on the table and waited for the ultrasound technician to start. She rubbed the little wand on my stomach and I felt my BFF squeeze my hand suddenly. She has had a baby, she knew what we were looking for. She didn't say anything though, not until the technician said, "There's your baby."

It was the most relieving thing I'd ever heard in my life. She turned on the sound and we heard the heartbeat and it was a strong one! Our little peanut was just fine! They had just had my conception date wrong. At that point, they thought I was 9 weeks along, when in reality, I was only 6. Little mistake, but HUGE heartache for the longest three days ever.

And then before we knew it, we were going in for our 18 week appointment to find out if our little peanut was a boy or a girl! Stay tuned!

Wow, it's been a while.

I had a very strong urge to log in and blog today. I hadn't felt that need in a long time and I don't even know if half of my bloggy friends still blog. It's amazing how Jumble Mash use to be apart of my daily life and then life got really busy. I'm not saying I'm making a comeback, but I am saying, I miss it.

I opened up the blog and realized the very last thing I wrote about was introducing my new niece to the world. She's now an amazingly beautiful and smart 1+ year old who I still cannot get enough of. I follow her around all the time with my camera and these are the looks I usually get. I imagine she is saying, "Would you puh-lease stop taking pictures and just play with me?"

Also since then, I of course got married to the love of my life. The wedding was fabulous and as nervous as I was and at most times overwhelmed, it was all so worth it. It did go by in a blur, but the blur is full of happy memories and very little hiccups.

But even before that, in March of last year, our landlord approached us and told us they wanted to sell the house we were living in. So Hubby and I took the plunge and we bought our first house. A one story, three bedroom, two bathroom little house in a cul-de-sac with a huge fenced in back yard for our dog to play. You remember Bowen, don't you? We thought about getting another dog when we moved in for him to play with but then we were given a whole new task. Two little baby kittens showed up at a co-workers house and needed a home. I was just going to take one, until I convinced Hubby that separating them was just cruel. And so, we took them both. 



Now





Then



I am so very thankful that we did not separate them, because after a year, they still cannot get enough of each other. Charlie is the orange one and the cuddle bug. Ash is the little girl who only likes to be petted on her own terms. And don't worry, Bowen took them right under his wing...er...paw.

 But all of that excitement, all of those changes don't even compare to what is in store for us next.

Stay tuned :)

Introducing...

The newest addition to the family. My little baby niece, Miss Nevaeh Marlene, born 2/10/12, 6lbs 15 ounces and 20 inches long.

I know I'm a few days late on letting you all know, but I'm having a real hard time sharing her. I don't even want Dad to hold her because he hogs her!

Unless of course she has a dirty diaper! Then I give her back! Haha.

She is the most amazing baby ever and I never in a million years imagined I'd love someone I just met so much. I keep trying to talk Little Sis into letting me keep her, but she hasn't given in yet.

Mom and baby are both doing great. We got the birth on video for Nevaeh to see when she gets older. It took a lot of convincing to get Little Sis to let me do that, but after she got the epidural she didn't care what was going on!

We were in the hospital for two days, Little Sis had to be induced because her blood pressure was running high. At 6:00 AM on Day 2, her water broke. At noon, she pushed for 2 minutes and 40 seconds and Nevaeh joined us. Life hasn't been the same since.

Peace.